Sword of Rao
The Sword of Rao was a radical movement founded by Dru-Zod in an attempt to overthrow the government of Krypton. History Origins After learning that Krypton's core had become unstable after years of industrial mining, scientist Jor-El confided in his childhood friend Dru-Zod, who also dreamed of saving their home planet. But while Jor-El put his faith in science, Zod believed that force was the only way to ensure that the Kryptonian race lived on. Losing faith in the Law Council's leadership, Zod established the Sword of Rao and planned to initiate a coup that would depose the council. The Failed Coup Zod and his followers stormed the Legislation Chamber, interrupting Jor-El's plea for control of the Growth Codex. Killing High Eminence Ro-Zar, he invited Jor-El to help start anew. When the latter refused, Zod ordered two of his men to take him into custody while his second-in-command, Faora, arrested the remaining council members. After learning that Jor-El had stolen the Growth Codex, Zod led a squadron to the House of El Citadel, arriving to see his childhood friend preparing a spacecraft for launch. When Jor-El revealed that he and his wife Lara had conceived a natural born child and planned to send it and the Codex to another planet. The two then engaged in a fierce duel that ended with Jor-El holding Zod at gunpoint. Despite Zod's protests, Lara finished preparing the spacecraft and activated the engines. Enraged, Zod fatally stabbed Jor-El in the stomach and emerged from the citadel, intent on destroying the craft. Before he could do so, however, the Warrior Guild arrived and placed him and his followers under arrest. Zod and his officers were put on trial before the Law Council, with the Sapphire Guards and Lara present. The council's spokesman, Lor-Em sentenced Zod and his loyalists to 300 years of somatic reconditioning within the Phantom Zone for the crimes of high treason and murder (of Ro-Zar, Jor-El, and others). Zod, when asked if he had any last words, Zod lunged at Lor-Em in a fury, bellowing insults, only for the Sapphire Guards to restrain the former general just in time. Zod then expressed his utter disgust with the council and Lor-Em's verdict, spitting at the councilman's feet in defiance. Zod then addressed Lara, declaring that that Kal-El wasn't safe, and that he Zod would still find him. The Sword of Rao members were then painfully frozen into cryocapsules. Councilman Lor-Em raised his hand, giving the sign for the capsules to levitate into the Black Zero, which in turn, flew through the Phantom Zone Projector into the Zone. The Long Search Shortly thereafter, however, Zod and his loyalists were freed, when Krypton's core imploded, destroying their native planet and briefly rupturing the Phantom Zone. Refusing to believe that they were the only Kryptonian survivors of their planet, Zod lead his men across the universe, in search of other survivors, Kal-El, and the stolen Growth Codex. The Sword of Rao began their search from the old Kryptonian colonial outposts. While they were unable to find other survivors (only Kryptonian skeletons), they found quite a few useful things on Daxam, including armor, weapons, Dropships, and even a World Engine. General Zod could now also search for a worthy planet, on which he could rebuild Krypton via terraformation. After 33 years of searching, the Sword of Rao finally found Earth, after Kal-El had managed to activate a distress signal from the Fortress of Solitude. Zod subsequently used the Black Zero's Phantom Drive to quickly travel to Earth's Solar System. The Message After reaching close proximity to the planet, the Black Zero was spotted, with the news of the UFO sighting quickly spreading all over the world. Zod promptly sent out a message to the people of Earth, personally revealing the existence of extraterrestrial life to them. In this menacing message, Zod demanded that a fellow being from his planet, named Kal-El (who had tried to blend in with Earth's population for decades), be handed into his custody, and that if the latter wasn't turned in to Zod within 24 hours, the entire planet would suffer severe consequences of apocalyptic proportions. Meeting Kal-El Not wishing to put his adopted planet in danger, Kal-El willingly gave himself up to the people of Earth. He was met by Zod's second-in-command, Sub-Commander Faora-Ul, who requested that Lois Lane also accompany both of them to General Zod's starship. They are brought aboard, where Black Zero's Kryptonian atmosphere disrupts and nullifies Kal-El's abilities. Pleased at finally meeting Kal-El, Zod promptly has him strapped down, and has Jax-Ur take a blood sample from him, before subjecting him and Lois to mind probing, projecting fearsome images into their heads, with the intention to learning the current location of the Growth Codex. With the help of Jor-El's AI, however, both of them managed to escape the starship. Battle of Smallville In the meantime, General Zod and several of his Sword of Rao loyalists track down Kal-El's infant starcraft to the Kent Farm in Smallville. Faora-Ul found the ship in the barn, but since the Codex wasn't inside, an infuriated Zod threatened Martha, demanding that she tell him where it is. With Zod preparing to strike her, Kal-El appeared just in time, tackling Zod away to downtown Smallville. Zod's breather breaks open in the process, greatly weakening and agonizing him. While his loyal Sword of Rao pilot Tor-An takes a weakened Zod to safety, Faora-Ul and Nam-Ek arrive and team up against Kal-El. While initially outnumbered and seemingly overwhelmed, Kal ultimately managed to defeat the malevolent due - first knocking Nam-Ek unconscious with a massive punch, and then breaking open Faora's breather, disabling her. They are picked up and subsequently taken back to the Black Zero by Tor-An. The Black Zero Event An enraged General Zod ordered for the World Engine to finally be released, in order to begin terraforming Earth into a new Krypton. The Black Zero begins to descend near Metropolis, while the Engine is sent to the Indian Ocean, on the other side of the planet. The two started the terraforming process by working in tandem, discharging a colossal pulsating gravitational beam through Earth (intending to increase the planet's gravity to that of Krypton), with the Engine also bombarding Earth's atmosphere with particulates (intending to alter the planet's biosphere to favor only the unadapted Kryptonians). Fortunately, Kal-El (now nicknamed "Superman" by the people of Earth) and Lois had a feasible plan (given to them by Jor-El's AI) of defeating the Sword of Rao and ending the imminent apocalypse. The plan was to collide the Phantom Drive of Superman's infant starcraft with the Black Zero's, in an attempt to create an unstable Phantom energy singularity, which would suck all of Zod's forces back into the Phantom Zone, this time permanently. Before they could do so, however, Superman would have to personally destroy the World Engine and end Earth's terraformation. The 8-ton infant starcraft was put aboard a C-17, as a makeshift bomb as Superman immediately took flight to the Indian Ocean. Superman swiftly flew to the Indian Ocean, and began attacking the World Engine, as the apocalyptic process continued. The Engine's defenses fought back, however, in the form of many huge Liquid Geo tentacles. Superman, however, soon managed to break through them and fell under the Engine's gravity beam. Despite the Kryptonian fumes generated by the Engine weakening him, he still managed to fly against the tremendous force of the huge gravity beam, with enough momentum to swiftly penetrate the Engine and destroy it, thereby ending the terraformation and single-handedly saving all life on Earth. He proceeded to fly back to Metropolis, determined to stop the Sword of Rao once and for all. The Final Duel While the plane with Superman's infant starcraft slowly, but surely approached the Black Zero, a whole fleet of F-35's was deployed to take out Zod's craft, but the ever-increasing gravity around the ship proved a significant problem, disturbing the equipment and instruments and setting them off-course. Superman managed to arrive just in time - bringing the Fortress of Solitude (piloted by General Zod) crashing down before it could shoot the C-17 out of the sky, and destroying the ship's dormant Genesis Chamber, much to Zod's dismay. Ultimately, despite Faora-Ul's attempts to stop the plane (knocking Lois off of it in the process) and the Phantom Drive initially not activating (due to the Command Key not plugging in), the plan was ultimately successfully executed, with the Black Zero and all of the Sword of Rao being pulled back into the Zone through the generated singularity. However, it came at the cost of Colonel Hardy and Dr. Hamilton's lives, with only Lois escaping the singularity's pull, due to Superman's timely intervention. The only Sword of Rao member to remain on Earth was General Zod, which forced Superman to engage him in a ferocious duel of titanic proportions. The duel decimated many trucks and cars, brought down numerous skyscrapers (including the Wayne Financial Building), and even briefly went into outer space, taking down a Wayne Enterprises satellite. While Zod did have the upper hand for the majority of the duel (due to his far superior combat skills), Superman was persistent, and ultimately managed to grapple his opponent into a choke hold. In defiance, Zod proceeded to use his heat vision, attempting to murder a cornered civilian family. Superman tried to pull his head away to divert the heat vision, pleading with Zod to stop, which the latter vows to never do, forcing Superman to reluctantly break Zod's neck, killing the malevolent Kryptonian and saving the family, while also avenging the murder of his father Jor-El in the process. Known Members *Dru-Zod - Founder & Leader. *Faora-Ul - Sub Commander and Zod loyalist, who answers only to Zod. *Tor-An - Sub Commander and Zod's right hand man. *Nam-Ek - Zod's most powerful soldier. *Jax-Ur - Scientist seeking ultimate knowledge. *Car-Vex - Loyal soldier of Zod. *Dev-Em II - Loyal soldier of Zod. *Nadira - Loyal soldier of Zod. *Commander Gor - loyal soldier of Zod. Category:Superman Category:Man of Steel Category:Organization Category:Kryptonian Category:Villains